Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0037315 (sleep apnea)
 8,000 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Patients with Cushing's syndrome (CS) frequently have sleep complaints. We evaluated sleep polysomnographically in 22 patients, including 17 with pituitary-ACTH-dependent Cushing's disease (CD) and five with CS from an adrenal tumor. Data were compared to healthy controls of comparable age. Seven patients (32%) demonstrated at least mild sleep apnea (> or = 9.4 events/hour), and four of 22 (18%) had > or = 17.5 events/hour. The apneic CD and CS patients had a trend for a greater complaint of excessive daytime sleepiness. Both apneic and nonapneic groups had considerable snoring and obesity. The electroencephalographic (EEG) sleep of nonapneic patients was compared to that of normal subjects. Nonapneic CD patients differed strikingly from healthy volunteers in sleep continuity and architecture, demonstrating lighter, fragmented sleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in CD patients bore many similarities to the sleep of patients with major depression, with REM latency being significantly shortened and REM density significantly increased. Continued examination of EEG sleep in CD patients may shed light on similarities in pathophysiology between CD and major depression, disorders which are characterized by both a dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and alterations in mood.
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PMID:Sleep architecture and sleep apnea in patients with Cushing's disease. 133 12

The pertinent literature on the prevalence, clinical manifestations and pathogenic mechanisms of sleep apnoea (SA) in endocrine diseases, namely acromegaly, Cushing syndrome, hypothyroidism and diabetes mellitus was reviewed. An increased prevalence is well documented in patients with active and treated acromegaly. While most authors report peripheral obstruction, due to hypertrophy of tongue and pharyngeal tissues, to be the cause of SA in acromegaly, some findings argue for a role of hormone-induced changes of central respiratory control. SA is also more common in hypothyroidism, especially when myxedema is present. The associated edema and myopathy appear to be of pathogenic importance. Thyroxin substitution is frequently effective for the treatment of SA but nCPAP can be necessary initially and in some patients even after remission of clinical signs of hypothyroidism. In Cushing disease and syndrome, parapharyngeal fat accumulation can cause SA, but no epidemiological information is available. In non insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM), obesity is the common risk factor for both, nocturnal hypoxia and insulin resistance. In IDDM, the development of autonomic neuropathy may predispose to SA. Where treatment of the underlying endocrine disease is unable cure the associated SA, nCPAP is usually the treatment of first choice. More prospective studies are clearly needed to establish prevalences and resolve the controversies regarding pathogenesis.
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PMID:Sleep apnoea in endocrine diseases. 961 23

Recently, the medical approach to patients with secreting and clinically non-functioning pituitary adenomas has received great impulse thanks to the availability of new, selective and long-lasting compounds with dopaminergic activity, such as cabergoline, and of somatostatin analogues provided in slow-release formulations, such as lanreotide and octreotide long acting release (LAR). In particular, the use of cabergoline has induced control of hyperprolactinaemia and tumour shrinkage in the great majority of patients with micro- and macroprolactinomas. Cabergoline treatment restores fertility both in women and men, and partially improves osteoporosis, one of the major complications of hyperprolactinaemia. In acromegaly, disease control (growth hormone [GH] <2.5-1.0 microg/l as a fasting or glucose-suppressed value, respectively, together with age-normalised insulin-like growth factor [IGF]-I) is achievable in more than half of patients receiving treatment with lanreotide or octreotide-LAR. Improvement in cardiomyopathy, sleep apnoea and arthropathy has been reported during GH/IGF-I suppression after pharmacotherapy. A synthetic GH analogue, B2036-PEG, that antagonises endogenous GH binding to its receptor-binding sites and a GH-releasing hormone antagonist that blocks the effect of this releasing factor on the hypothalamus and pituitary are presently under investigation in acromegaly. Preliminary studies have clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of the GH receptor antagonist in suppressing IGF-I levels in acromegalic patients previously unresponsive to somatostatin analogues. Beneficial effects of subcutaneous octreotide and lanreotide have also been reported in adenomas secreting thyroid-stimulating hormone, while the results of treatment with dopamine agonists or somatostatin analogues remain disappointing in patients with clinically non-functioning adenomas. In these patients the possibility of visualising in vivo the expression of D(2) receptors using specific radiotracers such as (123)I-methoxybenzamide has allowed selection of patients likely to respond to cabergoline. Scant effects of pharmacotherapy have also been reported in patients with adenomas secreting adrenocorticotropic hormone. However, some preliminary data suggest a potential use of cabergoline in combination with ketoconazole, or alone, in selected cases of Cushing's disease or Nelson's syndrome.
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PMID:New medical approaches in pituitary adenomas. 1097 Nov 10

Hypertension is a very common comorbidity in patients with Cushing's disease/syndrome, resulting from the interplay of several pathophysiologic mechanisms, including stimulation of mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors as well as the associated insulin resistance, sleep apnea, and overexpression of renin-angiotensin system. Although treatment of Cushing's disease results in resolution or amelioration of hypertension in these patients, a significant proportion of patients do not achieve complete cure or require a prolonged period of time for complete response to therapy. Therefore, therapeutic strategies for Cushing's-specific hypertension are necessary to decrease morbidity and mortality associated with this disease. In this review, we discuss the pathophysiology of hypertension in patients with Cushing's disease, highlighting the therapeutic options, including the exciting new developments in the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-g agonists in the management of this patient population.
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PMID:Hypertension in patients with Cushing's disease: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 1591 97

A bidirectional interaction exists between the electrophysiological and neuroendocrine components of sleep. The first is represented by the nonrapid eye movement sleep (NREMS) and rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) cycles, the latter by distinct patterns of the secretion of various hormones. Certain hormones (neuropeptides and steroids) play a specific role in sleep regulation. Changes in their activity contribute to the pathophysiology of sleep disorders. A reciprocal interaction of the peptides growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) plays a key role in sleep regulation. GHRH promotes growth hormone secretion and, at least in males, NREMS, whereas CRH impairs NREMS, promotes REMS and stimulates the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol. Changes in the CRH:GHRH ratio in favor of CRH contribute to impaired sleep, elevated cortisol secretion and blunted GH levels during depression and normal aging. However, in women, GHRH exerts CRH-like effects. Galanin, ghrelin and neuropeptide Y are other sleep-promoting peptides, whereas somatostatin impairs sleep. A decline of orexin activity causes narcolepsy. In addition to CRH overactivity, hypercortisolism appears to be involved in the pathophysiology of sleep- electroencephalogram (EEG) changes in depression. Various neuroactive steroids exert specific effects on sleep. The changes of sleep EEG in women after the menopause are related to the decline of estrogen and progesterone. Furthermore, sleep-EEG changes in dwarfism, acromegaly, Addison's disease, Cushing's disease, brain injury, sleep apnea syndrome, primary insomnia, prolactinoma and dementia appear to be related to changes in the activity of peptides and steroids.
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PMID:Roles of peptides and steroids in sleep disorders. 3075 93